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Comments: July 16, 2007

1. You might consider British neo-soul singer Lily Allen refreshingly candid, or you might call her an attention hound, but one thing’s certain: Her refreshing candor draws a lot of attention. The blog the Playlist called her an “adorably uncensored potty mouth,” and the Celebrity Spot wrote, “Fat-mouthed Lily Allen is running her mouth again”—both in response to our tag-along interview (“Lily Allen’s Escape to New York,” by Jada Yuan, July 2–9). Commentators were particularly drawn to her Christlike prediction about her own imminent arrest—in her case, for socking a paparazzo right before she left England for New York. (Sure enough, when she returned, she was detained.) “Can you say, ‘Getting arrested is the new rehab’?” asked blog the Reluctant Whore. Others noted that with the arrest, Allen is making good on her declaration that “I could be Paris Hilton soon enough.” Of course, to truly emulate Hilton, Allen has to stop being talented at anything. So maybe she doesn’t need to worry.

2. Some readers were engrossed, and others simply grossed out, by our “Strategist” roundup of notable street vendors (“Food: Cartography,” June 25). “I’ve never been much of a fan of street meat,” writes blog the Fifth Day of May. “But all that has changed overnight since I read New York’s fourteen-page spread on the wonders of New York’s best street food. All of a sudden, I’m dying to make a pilgrimage for some midnight arepas in Jackson Heights.” Another blogger encouraged readers to patronize these vendors, but took exception to what he perceived as our patronizing tone. “Calling Sean Basinski of the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project the ‘César Chávez’ of street vendors is a bit of a stretch, if not downright paternalistic,” wrote Sound Taste. “Ethnic issues aside, I’d rather give that title to the mujeres at Esperanza del Barrio. The organization was created by, and is run by, the Mexicana vendors in East Harlem. Let’s put the emphasis on the vendors’ ability to organize themselves, where it belongs.”

(Photo: Burton Berinsky/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

3. Our Summer Issue (July 2–9) put readers in a liberated mood. Free love! And free the dogs! The blog Dog Art Today marveled at the liberty our pooches enjoy compared with those in Los Angeles. “Unbelievable! In L.A., it’s a health-code violation to dine with a dog, even on a patio!” (No word on dogs and street carts.) Mark Jacobson’s article on 1967’s Summer of Love (“The Long Hot Summer of Love”)provoked less-than-affectionate feelings in one transplanted Californian. “Your little attempt at giving a nod to San Francisco is an obvious feint, considering how you spend the rest of the article implying how much tougher and cooler New York was,” wrote Kathleen Davison, formerly of Berkeley, now of New York. Another reader addressed a less contentious, but no less important, point. “Nice article, but a major missed opportunity with the wedding-photo description,” wrote Michael Markowitz. “That wasn’t just ‘a wedding.’ That was Abbie and Anita Hoffman.”An oversight, now gladly remedied.

(Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth Cline)

DAY PASS

Last week, New York Magazine’s Elizabeth Cline (right), who snuck into hotel pools for a free dip for the Summer Issue (“Getting Your Chlorine Fix for Free,” July 2–9), received mail from the folks at Le Parker Meridien. “We actually did not let you sneak in; we just thought you wanted to start a tab with us at our pool. We know how busy NYC summers can be, so we thought we would send over the bill now so it does not escape your mind.” A hundred bucks they charged us! That is one expensive dip.

(Photo: Lea Golis)

Q&A

Grub Street’s Daniel Maurer, pictured, is compiling a dictionary of male-bonding language for his first book, Brocabulary.

Do waiters employ brocabulary?
When I interviewed Pure Food and Wine’s David Moltz for Ask a Waiter, he said he and the chef “totally bro down about French stuff.”

What did he mean?
Well, there are many forms of “broing down.” My favorite is barticulating—when you have a drunken conversation at a bar. You just have to make sure it doesn’t lead to a bargument.

Does brocab help you navigate the restaurant world?
Sometimes. Grub Street coined the term Lower Eastpacking District, to reflect the fact that on weekends, the Lower East Side is looking more like the bridge-and-tunnel maelstrom that the meatpacking district became a few years back.

Is there a brotini?
The Gogol, a martini with horseradish and pickled egg served at Pravda, is a good example of palcohol (booze that facilitates brotherly bonding).

Clarification: In “The Profit Calculator” (by Arianne Cohen, June 11), the section “A Baseball Team: New York Yankees” should have cited Andrew Zimbalist, the author of In the Best Interests of Baseball? and an economist at Smith College, as the source of some of the information used.